Significance of women's involvement in re-translating the Chinese Bible

The history of the translation of the Chinese Bible can be traced back to 1822, when the Chinese version of the Holy Scripture was first published in Selangor, India by Baptist missionary Joshua Marshman (Wylie, 1867). Since then, translation of Chinese Bibles has continued under the auspices of Bible societies such as the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Worldwide Bible Society, the Catholic Church, as well as under the leadership of individual translators such as Rev. Lu Chen Chung and independent scholar Feng Xiang. The involvement of women in the translating and editing process has also evolved from male-dominated teams to a more gender- inclusive, collaborative setting. This study discusses the importance of women’s involvement in the translation process by first tracing how women’s role in churches were undermined in Hong Kong due to interpretations based on the different translations of the Bible into Chinese. The paper also aims to shed light on how the gender-related scriptures have been treated, by way of comparative textual analyses of biblical annotations across various Chinese Bibles. It can be seen that when women editors and translators are placed in truly leadership roles, women-related issues can be addressed more effectively.